Nieuws

AMT CEO Ronald Lorijn Steps Down - Sander van Deventer Interim CEO

22 januari 2009

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (Euronext: AMT), a leader in the field of human gene therapy, announced today that Dr. Ronald H.W. Lorijn will for personal reasons retire as chief executive officer, effective February 1, 2009. Prof. Sander van Deventer, AMT's chief scientific officer and co-founder of the company, has been named chief executive officer on an interim basis.

Since Ronald Lorijn started in 2005, AMT changed from a small, one-product company into a leading gene therapy company with a richly filled R&D pipeline and lead product Glybera®. The Company reached within four years a number of key milestones: successful financing round in 2006; successful IPO in 2007; multiple R&D strategic international collaborations; and Glybera® close to filing for marketing approval in Europe, USA and Canada.

“Under Ronald’s leadership the company has delivered outstanding results for which we are very grateful. We look forward to continuing the execution of the company strategy by building on this strong foundation,"

said Ferdinand Verdonck, chairman of the Supervisory Board.

“I regret that personal reasons prevent me from being actively involved in the next level of growth of AMT. I wish this great company and its people a lot of success in achieving the goal we have set ourselves: offering cures for patients suffering from serious, debilitating diseases by making gene therapy available to them”

said Ronald Lorijn.

Sander van Deventer:

“I look forward to guiding AMT at this important stage with the clinical trial for Glybera® and the filing of the marketing authorization dossier for this product. I am focused on successfully developing our drug candidates into cures for serious diseases together with the team of excellent and experienced people at our company.”

Ferdinand Verdonck adds:

“Sander van Deventer has in-depth knowledge of gene therapy and of the company as he is CSO and co-founder of AMT. The Supervisory Board is pleased that he will be the CEO ad interim until a successor is found. We are confident that under his leadership the company will make great progress.”

The Supervisory Board will begin a search for a new CEO immediately.

The Company plans to report its annual results 2008 on February 24, 2009. AMT expects results to be in line with the guidance given earlier.

About Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics

AMT has a unique gene therapy platform that to date appears to circumvent many if not all of the obstacles that have prevented gene therapy from becoming a mainstay of clinical medicine. Using adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors as the delivery vehicle of choice for therapeutic genes, the company has been able to design and validate what is probably the first stable and scalable AAV production platform. As such, AMT’s proprietary platform holds tremendous promise for thousands of rare (orphan) diseases that are caused by one faulty gene. AMT currently has a product pipeline with nine products at different stages of development.

Certain statements in this press release are “forward-looking statements” including those that refer to management's plans and expectations for future operations, prospects and financial condition. Words such as “strategy,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “will,” “continues,” “estimates,” “intends,” “projects,” “goals,” “targets” and other words of similar meaning are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on the current expectations of the management of Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics only. Undue reliance should not be placed on these statements because, by their nature, they are subject to known and unknown risks and can be affected by factors that are beyond the control of AMT. Actual results could differ materially from current expectations due to a number of factors and uncertainties affecting AMT’s business, including, but not limited to, the timely commencement and success of AMT’s clinical trials and research endeavors, delays in receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration or other regulatory approvals (i.e. EMEA, Health Canada), market acceptance of AMT’s products, effectiveness of AMT’s marketing and sales efforts, development of competing therapies and/or technologies, the terms of any future strategic alliances, the need for additional capital, the inability to obtain, or meet, conditions imposed for required governmental and regulatory approvals and consents. AMT expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting AMT, refer to the prospectus of AMT’s initial public offering on June 20, 2007, and AMT’s public announcements made from time to time.